Colorado cybersecurity office announces mass layoffs following scathing audits

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The Colorado office responsible for overseeing the state’s cybersecurity and digital infrastructure announced sweeping layoffs and a major restructuring effort this week following years of blistering state audits that exposed serious security deficiencies.

The Colorado Office of Information Technology said on Wednesday it is eliminating 173 positions, which is roughly 16% of its workforce. Leaders are calling it a “transformational change” aimed at modernizing the agency and strengthening the state’s cyber defenses.

The office oversees a wide range of digital services used by Coloradans every day, including unemployment benefits, workers’ compensation systems, driver’s licenses and food assistance programs. But in recent years, the agency has come under intense scrutiny after multiple state audits uncovered dozens of vulnerabilities that auditors warned could leave Colorado at risk of a major cybersecurity breach.

The office has been the subject of four audits in recent years. Those reviews identified deficiencies in areas including contingency planning, incident response, and risk management.

“We have to recognize the threat is getting a lot bigger,” said David Edinger, the office’s outgoing CEO and executive director. “We’ve got to get a lot more mature fast.”

Edinger said incremental fixes would no longer be enough to address the agency’s problems.

“Tweaks won’t cut it,” he said, describing the restructuring as necessary to overhaul outdated systems and practices.

Edinger is among the employees leaving the agency during the restructuring.

Sarah Tuneberg, the state’s new chief information officer, said the office must fundamentally rethink how it operates in order to meet modern cybersecurity challenges.

“We’re radically transforming the way we think about things to be the modern technology organization, like Google, like Microsoft, like Spotify,” Tuneberg said.

State lawmakers who have closely monitored the office say the changes are overdue….

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